History has shown us that
every 3 – 4 years Intel releases a new microprocessor architecture. The longest
Intel has gone between micro-architecture generations was the four years between
the release of the 8086 in 1978 and the 286 in 1982. If you look at the fact
that the last micro-architecture Intel released was back in 1995 with the Pentium
Pro (P6 micro-architecture) we are slightly overdue for a new micro-architecture
from Intel.

We’ve been hearing about
this new micro-architecture and the first processor to use it for quite some
time now. We were first introduced to what was then called the Willamette core
9 months ago at the Spring 2000 Intel Developer Forum. Already running at 1.5GHz
back then, this new architecture and the accompanying processor could be just
what Intel needed to get back on track.

It’s amazing at how quickly
the industry can turn from being dominated almost completely by a single CPU
manufacturer over to a point where the underdog is now in a position to lead
the market into the 21st century. Over the past 12 – 18 months we
have seen this very situation occur right in front of our own eyes. Intel,
a manufacturer never associated with delays or processor shortages and AMD,
a manufacturer that was associated with sub-par performance and an inability
to deliver on time, essentially switched roles in the past year alone.

Now AMD is at a point where
they are being taken very seriously by the industry and Intel is in a position
where they have to fight to regain a lot of lost ground. AMD’s weapon to get
to the top has been their Athlon and focusing on the mainstream and performance
market segments (the Duron has still yet to break into the retail value market
segment). Intel’s Pentium III used to be its flagship, unfortunately it is
stuck at the 1GHz mark until the end of the first half of 2001. This paves
the way for Intel’s new micro-architecture, what they like to call the NetBurst
Architecture, and the first IA-32 processor to make use of it, the Pentium 4.

Today Intel is introducing
the first two members of the Pentium 4 family, the 1.4GHz and 1.5GHz parts,
which not only mark the first two x86 CPUs that make use of the NetBurst Architecture
but they are currently the two highest clocked x86 CPUs available. And today,
our job is to explain the performance of the Pentium 4 and give you the thumbs
up or the thumbs down you’re here for.